


WRTT Shorts

by FayTheGay



Series: What Runs Through Them [5]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other, Shorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7891204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayTheGay/pseuds/FayTheGay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These are shorts written for the WRTT series. Whether it's alternate endings or other things. Pay attention to beginning notes!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Blood ~ Alternate Ending

**Author's Note:**

> This was the original ending for the story, I didn't like how it came out but I thought you guys might like to read it. The events in this are not the actual events but it was how it was going to end initially.

Daula Marin Uley was a shapeshifter who was born September 13th 1997 in Forks Washington in the hospital room right next to Isabella Marie Swan. Isabella Marie Swan and Daula Marin Uley had something happen, they had been conceived at the same time and they breathed their first breath of fresh oxygen at the same moment. They became soul sisters. So much happened to these girls. They met people, they met vampires, they met humans, the met shapeshifters, and they made friends.

They hadn't expected any of this. They had been one girl with a voice inside her head. Now they had friends and Dol knew why she existed. The problem was the questions. How did this end? How was it supposed to end?

Was it ever really over though? Sure life moved on but did it ever truly end?

The answer was no. It couldn't end. It was life. Dol had accepted that no matter what direction she went she would never have all the answers to all the questions. It wasn't possible. No matter how much Dol wanted all the questions answered they never would be.

That was what had led her to the next point -this point in this room- the unanswered questions.

Dol was an alpha shifter without the ability to shift. She was basically human. Even after everything they had been through it wasn't over. There was a final thing that needed to be answered.

Three people sat at a table. A broken vampire, a human, and a broken shapeshifter.

"Girls?"

Bella was staring off into space now. She was barely ever there anymore. A child trapped in an adult's body.

"Yeah, mom?" Dol asked her mom who laid a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"I still can't believe it. It still amazes me." Her mother hadn't believed it when she'd seen them.

"We need to talk, Bella." Dol touched her sister's arm which earned a jump and rapid blinking from Bella.

"Um…yeah, sure." She mumbled as her eyes focused on her sister before moving to her aunt. Dol was thrilled that they'd gotten a somewhat mature response from her. A somewhat Bella response.

"We should do something, Bells." Ellen spoke softly, her eyes searching the face of her adoptive daughter.

"What do you want to do, Aunt El?" Bella's voice returned to a childish tone which caused the mom and daughter to glance at each other nervously.

"We could go watch a movie?"

"I'll grab my jacket!" Bella jumped up and ran out of the dining room of their childhood home, going up the stairs.

"Dol, we need to talk about, Bells."

"She'll come back around. She has to." Dol whispered with no conviction in her words.

"She's barely…"

"Mom, please. I don't want to talk about this."

The hard truth was Dol knew what needed to happen. The final crack had grown in Bella's falling sanity until she was barely her anymore. Kachiri had broken her and she was regressing. She wasn't Bella anymore. She was somewhere in her Izzy mindset most of the time. The youngest part of her.

Dol was selfish. She didn't want to let go of her sister. She couldn't let go of her. She wasn't ready for it. She wasn't ready to lose her sister.

The three sat outside the theater after their movie had ended on a bench, Dol hadn't paid much attention but Bella had been happy watching it, smiling and laughing and grinning. It had been good. Dol knew what she had to do though. She had thought about it during the movie. She had accepted it.

"Dol?" Dol looked up as Mike and Jessica approached them. Jessica had mostly forgiven Dol for everything. It had taken several months but she had done it.

"Mike!" Bella jumped up from her seat and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him with care. Had it been Dol Jessica might have made some snide comment but instead she just smiled sadly. Jessica didn't like the two girls but she wasn't completely heartless either. She knew where Bella was and wouldn't ruin the girl's day.

"Hey, Bella. How're you today?"

"I'm hungry." Bella mumbled and stepped back.

Bella was technically a vampire, that was true. However, in her receding mind Bella had lost her appetite for human blood. She picked at human food when it was given to her but she never ate. She didn't feed and she didn't eat. It was useful in some respects.

Dol was leaning against the wall drinking whisky out of glass. Her mother was sitting on the couch, watching her daughter with slight disapproval. Mike and Jessica were sitting on the couch, Bella was playing in the yard with her stuffed dog named Frog and the four others were talking.

"I need your help, Mike." Dol said suddenly as a thought entered her, she had one final chance.

He looked at her with curiosity before asking her, "what do you need help with?"

The glare Jessica cast her was unsettling. "I haven't been able to establish a mental connection with the Bella we know because her mind is crumbling. Kachiri destroyed her."

"How can I help with something between the two of you?" Jessica's glaring was irritating Dol more and more.

"I need to use our connection to stabilize the bond between myself and Bella. I wouldn't ask if there was anything else and I don't know what being touched by her mind will do to you."

Mike was wary. "I won't go-"

Dol immediately knew what he was asking. It bothered her that he'd assume she'd put him in a situation like that. "You won't go insane. You know I would never put you in danger's way."

"No. Mike, don't." Jessica interrupted. "She could be wrong. If Bella is that far lost God knows what being touched by her mind could do to you." She turned him, making him look at her. "Please, Mike." Dol was annoyed by Jessica as she usually was. She clenched her teeth and took another drink of her drink.

"Jessica, what don't you get about the fact that I can't put him in harm's way?"

"You're kidding me, right? Your very presence put him in harm's way back in Missouri! We were perfectly safe until-"

"We freed that town from the city of fucking vampires running beneath it! Don't you dare say you would've been safer before we showed up!"

"The burning of the city, it would've happened whether you'd been there or not." Jessica shook her head. "Get off your fucking high horse, Dol. You didn't need to be there. It would've happened either way."

Dol didn't respond, she narrowed her eyes at Jessica and –before she realized she'd done it- threw her glass at the wall behind Jessica. Jessica shouted something as Dol stormed up to her room. She hated Jessica, she hated what was happening. She wanted her sister back. She also knew Jessica was right.

So what had brought her to this point? This final point where she stood in the middle of a beautiful clearing digging a hole in the ground.

 _Embry._ She sighed and sat at the edge of the hole, dropping the shovel to her side as the wolves came out of the forest around them. She closed her eyes and put her face in her hands for a few seconds before pulling her face out of them and looking up.

Bella saw the wolves and jumped up, running to Embry and wrapping her arms around his neck while giggling. At least she didn't remember her fear of the wolves. She could be happy around them and they could see her before they did the last thing.

 _Hey, Bells._ The young girl grinned at the wolf as the rest of the pack moved past her, sitting down in front of Dol.

"Dig." Dol didn't bother asking but she also didn't bother using her Alpha Voice. The wolves knew what was being done and why it was being done. It was strangely comforting that she didn't need to tell or ask them to do it.

 _Would you like to go for a ride, Bella?_ The girl wasted no time after Embry knelt down allowing her to climb on his back.

"Seth." He moved past the other wolves that had taken to digging the hole she had requested and knelt down in front of Dol. She laid her hand on his shoulder before climbing on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he stood and joined Embry who was now standing with Bella in a similar position.

"Hey, Izzy." Dol mumbled as she looked at her sister who was laying her head on Embry, facing Dol.

"Let's go!" She grinned at her sister.

 _Hold on, Bella!_ Embry's voice filled their heads. Once the girls had tight grips on their wolves they took off into the trees.

This was it. This was where it ended. The two girls standing in the dark looking down a deep hole under the light of a full moon, hand in hand.

_Bella, are you there?_

_Thank you, Dol._ Bella's voice was strong in her mind. It hadn't been easy but once her broken mind had somehow pieced together what was happening she had managed to patch herself together temporarily.

 _Are you sure?_ Dol knew the answer, she didn't like it but she knew it.

 _I'm barely here right now, Dol. This needs to happen. I will keep falling until I'm gone completely._ Tears filled Dol's eyes as her sister talked to her.

Dol looked at her sister out of the corner of her eye. _It will basically be murder._

 _No. It's the right thing to do._ Bella turned so she was facing her now.

 _Letting you go insane is the right thing?_ Dol looked at her sister.

 _I'm already insane. I've been insane since the day Aro kidnapped me. Dol, I was so happy…_ She sent images of the fantasy world she had lived in for four years to her sister. Dol had to admit seeing her sister's parents together and happy was an amazing prospect. The happiness in her memories filled Dol with guilt for prolonging this because she didn't want to let her sister go.

_Do you think you'll ever wake up?_

_I don't know, Dol. In my head, time probably will never pass as it does here._

Bella turned her body and wrapped her arms around Dol squeezing her in a tight hug.

Dol felt herself bruising but was comforted by it. She hugged her sister back and cried softly. They stood there for what felt like years before Dol made her decision.

She hadn't been able to change forms since the SH injection. This was different though. She wasn't taking her Spectral form, she was merging herself with her sister's mind. She squeezed Bella's hand and felt herself combining with her sister, the world was colorless again but it hardly mattered. She was in Bella's mind again. It was different this time.

The two girls met face to face in a place that dark and terrifying; Bella's mind. She could see the battle scars. There were walls that looked like they had been hit with high end explosives, Bella's bad memories played themselves out, younger versions of her ran through it screaming. Every part was damaged beyond repair except the very back. There was one place in the very back with a solid wall.

_Embry, you know what I want._

_I'll miss you both._

The two girls took each other's hands in her mind.

"Dol, so much has happened to us. I wish it hadn't come to this."

"It will be happier there, right?"

"We'll have sunshine and happiness." The sun had been the reason for their fight; the reason to be free. It was ironic that they were here now, in Bella's head. Somehow it was better though. Even if she was leaving Mike behind Jessica had been right. He was safer with her away. It also came down to the fact that if he was ever in complete danger she would be woken and brought forward to save him.

The two girls were content with where they were going though. They turned to face the wall that held Bella's fictional world, the world where things were good.

Dol and Bella. A rare occurrence. This was the last place any of them expected to end up. Bella dropped down into the hole that had been dug and curled up in it, closing her eyes as the wolves began pushing dirt over them.

At the bottom of a hole in the real world in the back of Bella's mind in front of a wall they would live life behind. This was where they ended. The two sisters took each other's hands and stepped into it, emerging into the new reality with more friends and family than before and the sun. They had the sunshine they had wanted. They got what they wanted, even if it wasn't how they'd expected it to happen. They got their sun and they didn't have to remember what had happened to them. In the end. Things were good for them.


	2. Essence ~ Alternate Ending 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first Alternate Ending to Essence. Chapter 18 Alternate ending. It also has a Chapter 19 followup. Basically, this is if Dol had survived the death of Ak.

"Hello." Her voice was childish but there was more. The young girl -who couldn't have been older than ten- stood several feet in front of us, her deep brown curly locks framing her dark yet pale face. Her deep red glowing eyes were feral. Red eyes. I'd never seen a vampire with red eyes. Why were they red? She looked between the three of us. I was frozen in place. The girl in front of us sent raw fear through me. Everything about her told me to run. To leave. To get out as fast as I could. She looked between all of us before settling her gaze on Dol. "Say the words, Old Soul. It is ringing through your head." The young girl's voice now held age. It was full of knowledge. I could feel Dol's fear alongside my own. That wall she'd built had crumpled. Any of the pain and agony and worry from before was replaced with raw fear.

Dol grabbed hold of my arm, digging her fingers painfully into my wrist.

"You aren't speaking? That isn't any good. We really need to talk, Sister." Her voice turned lethal as the word sister escaped her mouth. "I'm the original vampire."

Rosalie spoke up, "no one here is your sister and what the fuck is an old soul?" The attitude she tried to put into it would have been believable if her voice hadn't been shaking.

"Mind your tongue, Abomination or I will be forced to remove it." The girl's gaze snapped to Rosalie before returning to Dol.

"Of course you don't know. You have been doing someone has been telling you to do. You would not know. She's close to the surface though. I can feel her." She tilted her head slightly. "What do you know of yourself, Sister? Of the shapeshifter you are."

Dol was frozen in place. She hadn't spoken a word before and she clearly wasn't going to now.

"Spectral shapeshifters are born only after the previous one has died. Only when one has died can another one live." I recited the words Quil had spoken to me.

"That is incorrect. Have you ever wondered _why_ she looks nothing of her mother? Have you never questioned her and the young boy's eyes?"

"How do you know about Brady?" Rosalie moved to go after her but was stopped by Edward who grabbed her arms and pinned them to her back. I tilted my head slightly and saw that same fear I'd seen when he'd shown up at the hotel in his expression.

"Rosalie, don't." I returned my focus to the young girl.

"They are the eyes of my sister. She is an Anima Renatus, Old Soul, the reborn souls of old. One cursed to eternity on Earth. We have been at war for a very long time, Sister. Your children and my children have spent eternity in a never ending war." The child's eyes flashed black. "You've crossed a line though. You created abominations. You created them following the ancient rules. It's time though. It's time to end this."

"What are you talking about?" I moved slightly in front of Dol. "She isn't your sister. You're a fucking vampire. She's a shapeshifter from the twenty-first century."

The child's expression flashed briefly. She paid no attention to me, moving her focus past me. "Wake up, Sister! Do this battle in the front! Not through the ignorant ones here! Wake up!" The girl stomped her foot and the ground shook beneath me, icy hands wrapped around me then suddenly my back was pressed to Edward's chest. The girl tilted her head. "It appears my children carry the curse as well. Unable to kill our children. A massive inconvenience when you need to wipe out all of your own ignorant stupid creations. I can't begin to comprehend the level of idiocy that has made its way into our kinds. Feeding on humans but not killing. Do they not realize our purpose? Why we exist?"

It hit me instantly. "Those bodies. The mass murders... The slaughterhouses..."

"Vampires exist for one reason. To kill. It is my job to keep the balance. To ensure humanity and vampires don't outweigh each other." Her gaze lingered on me for a second longer than was comfortable before moving to Edward. "You were a prize. You did what you were supposed to do. That was why I left you the gift. Why I didn't make you human. I'm beginning to see that mistake. Standing with the Abomination, the blood, and my sister? I understand that you're compelled to protect your creation but you should be standing with me. Not them. Join me, Edward. Stand by The Creator. It should be an honor to you."

Edward shifted positions behind me. "Unfortunately I can't do that. You killed her mother. Her mother was a good woman."

Anger flashed through the girl's eyes. "I would never do that. I mass murder in times like this. Why would I do something as ignorant as kill a single human? More importantly. I would never go after the grandmother of that young boy."

I broke out of my fear. I needed to focus. Okay. The pack wouldn't be far away. I touched the connection to her essence and sent out an order. I felt terrible but I had to. I knew she wouldn't willingly do it. _Dol, call Quil and tell him to circle us._

I could feel the conflict in her mind but she did as I told. She didn't have a choice. I couldn't feel guilty about that right now though. "You unmade the vampires?" Her gaze moved to mine, an unsettling smiling ghosting across her lips.

"I thought you'd die. You and that boy. I left you both to die. You should have died. In all of the vampires on the planet the two of you _almost_ interested me. Why would a vampire give up this gift and choose to bury themselves alive? _Almost_. Then I realized you were cowards. He was the first on the list. I dug him up and pinned his body down then bit his neck and wiped his mind."

Keep her talking. Distract her. "So you can unmake vampires?"

"I am the original. The creator of an entire species that is unable to kill their own creations. By all technicalities every one of you is my creation. If I couldn't make you human again I would be at a massive disadvantage."

"Could you make us back?"

She ignored the question, her gaze returning to Dol. "Sister, I suggest you call off your hounds before I kill them all. Those aren't the ones for this battle."

Dol pulled on my arm and gave me a pleading look. It was hard to do it but I caved. I didn't want them to die. _Send them away._

"Sister! Wake up! I want to talk to you! Stop hiding and speak to me! "

Dol changed. I felt the change as our telepathic link walled itself off. Her stance became tenser, she stood taller and moved forward. The young girl began grinning.

"Sister."

"Hello, Mer." Her voice sounded older. So much older. She glanced over her shoulder at me and my heart sank. That wasn't my sister. Sure, she looked like my sister but the eyes said something different. Those ever changing eyes had become a deep brown. She returned her focus to the girl. Mer. Mary. This was the girl that had Brady had imprinted on. Things were going to get complicated quickly if this went out of control.

"It has been a very long time since we've talked, Sister."

The girl who was Dol but wasn't bowed her head. "I told you last time what would happen if we talked again."

"Allow me to quote you. 'Next time we meet one of us will die. By this point both of our children will have forgotten their purpose. I will create an army and lead them against you. We will destroy each other and the cycle of my eternity will be broken as will yours.' I do not sense the army you corrupted my creations with. They are not here."

"My influence wasn't as strong as it normally is. It appears our soul is bound to this girl. She has a great influence on us. Even greater now that she has bound her soul to my –as they refer to it as- essence." _Isabella Marie Swan. Before anything more happens remember that my sister lies. You have helped me with something though. You have given me a perspective on humanity. Your sister is still here. If things go south know she does love you._

The child bared her teeth at us. "She had no right to interfere like that! This is not her battle!"

"Sister, I am asking you. Leave. Let me do what I want to do."

"You know as well as I that that is not an option. I must keep the balance. I swore all those years ago that I would use eternity to maintain the balance in humanity."

"I can't let you do that." The girl in front of me lifted her hands above her head and clapped them together. The sound was louder than it should have been. It echoed through the trees and sent chills down my spine. I to grab Dol's shoulder but Edward grabbed my arm stopping me.

"That's cheating!" The young girl stepped back as something came flying through the air into Dol, then another, and another. Hundreds of things flew through the air into her, at first I didn't recognize what they were. I couldn't tell. Then I saw what it was. Essence. It was the essence of shapeshifters. The animals from hundreds of shapeshifters flying through the air and into Dol. Dol through her head back and laughed, a terrifying sound. It was a terrifying laugh.

I jerked against Edward's hold on me. _Dol! Please! Push her down!_

 _You really don't want her to do that, Isabella. Your sister will be eaten alive by what I am doing._ The girl who wasn't Dol rolled her around, stretching out before taking a deep breath and crouching down.

"You can't do that, Ak! You are cheating!" The young girl looked panicked as the girl who wasn't my sister moved towards her, Ak. Yet another name that sounded more like a sound than a word.

"Sister, I don't cheat. I bend the rules but I don't cheat."

The girl seemed to consider her options quickly before jumping up into the nearest tree. "You promised this battle would be fair!" Rosalie dropped to her knees next to me and grabbed her head. "But if you're going to use all of your assets it looks like I will have to do the same!" Then a massive force hit me, knocking me to the ground. Teeth entered into my neck and an agonized scream escaped me. Sharp fiery pain tore through me. It was like being turned. It was exactly like being turned. Except the burning only lasted what was probably a few seconds. White hot agony tore through my body and then it was over. That was it. And I felt it. My mind. Everything open and free again. It felt amazing. Even with that something was off, I could feel my vampire strength and speed and everything else back but something felt horribly out of place. Like something important was missing. I couldn't dwell on that right now.

"It looks like you're one of my only hopes, Isabella. Get up now." Mer got off of me and I was on my feet in seconds. Dol. My mind was open again. I could do this. I just needed to get this other girl to drop her guard so I could force my way into my sister's mind.

Edward took hold of me and turned me so I was facing him. "Isabella, are you-"

It wasn't hard to tear the shield off my mind long enough to let Edward hear my thoughts. _Focus on the current problem._ I turned and watched a look of fear shoot across Dol –no Ak-'s face.

"This abomination is technically mine. Flick the right switch in her mind and…" I focused on Rosalie who threw her head back and let out a sound between a scream and howl. The sound of snapping bones filled the air and her skin began to ripple as something began to surface from beneath it. She made another of the sound between a scream and howl, this time more of a howl.

"You absolute idiot! You cannot control the creature beneath the surface!" Ak took off into the trees, I didn't stick around to watch Rosalie change. I took off after her at full speed. If only all vampire transformations took this long. I suppose it made sense since I'd been bitten by the original. I tackled the girl who wasn't my sister to the ground, she struggled against me. "Let me go, Isabella!" She kicked me in the stomach and I went flying into a tree, knocking it down and…it hurt. I held my stomach and winced at the terrible pain in my back. It hurt? I thought vampires couldn't feel real pain? "It would take days for you to be able to become a full vampire, Isabella. You may have some of the vampire strengths back but your heart is still beating. This is not your fight, Isabella. This is a fight between myself and my sister. You do not want to be involved in this!"

"I am already involved! You're wearing my sister's face!" I growled and struggled to my feet.

"If you choose to fight me, Isabella and my sister gets away. She will wipe out most of humanity." The other girl, Mer, or Mary. She came out of the trees from where we'd come from. She moved so she was standing next to me.

"I will wipe out most of it. I keep the balance. It is my job. Shapeshifters have lost their way more than the vampires. They live to wipe out the human race. She will kill off every one of the humans." Mary stepped forward in front of me. An animalistic howl tore through the air from where we'd come from. Ak jerked her head in the direction of the sound. A low growl escaping her.

"Sister, you have made a mistake by releasing that beast. You can't control it. Neither of us have that power."

"You cheated, Sister. You stole the souls of all of those animals from their human hosts. That is not how the battle was supposed to happen, Sister." She stepped forward. "So, if you are going to choose not to bring your army here to fight and would rather steal what makes them special to make yourself stronger I will have to use what I have here."

I was beyond confused by the current situation. Dol was actually an…Old Soul who was now being possessed by what I had to assume was the first incarnation of her. Mary had openly admitted to killing off all of those humans but she'd claimed she was only doing it to keep the balance…they were supposed to fight... To the death…that was Dol. Dol. No.

"Is realization dawning on you, Isabella? I know it is on your sister. Tell me, Isabella. Will you stand by me and assist me in killing my sister? Because if you do not she will kill me." Edward came out of the trees followed closely by a large wolf like creature who moved across the ground in an apelike fashion. Edward grabbed me and threw me over his shoulders and carried me into the trees. "You made a mistake, Mer! You made a deadly mistake! She will kill us all! I told you that you couldn't control her!" The two girls were running on opposite sides of Edward as he carried me through the trees.

Edward ducked down as Mary jumped over him, landing on Ak and knocking her across the ground. I wasted no time before dropping off his back and jumping on Mary's back, wrapping my arms around her neck and pulling her head, trying to rip it off.

"Isabella!" I hit a tree seconds after hands dug into my arm, throwing me off her. I jumped to my feet and tried to go after them but arms wrapped around me again.

"Edward, let me go!" I jerked against him but Ak had been right. I wasn't a full vampire.

Mary stood and backed away from her sister, Ak rising to her feet as well. She appeared as though she was slightly dazed. She was dazed. It was clear. This was my chance. _Dol!_ I broke through that mental wall with ease. I looked around the inside of her mind. It was different than my own. Everything was so much less organized. Thoughts and memories ran through it randomly. Dol was in the center with her arms and legs chained to the floor. She was lying on the ground crying golden tears.

" _Dol."_ I was in front of her now, I knelt in front of her and grabbed her head, she looked up at me weakly.

" _Bella. Kill her. I've seen her plans. Bella, you have to kill her. Please."_ The first time she'd spoken verbally since the lake and this was what she was saying. No.

" _If I kill her-"_

" _I've done so many things for the wrong reasons, believing it was the right thing. She was leading me on the path of destroying humanity. Bella. Please. Let me die. We can't let her win."_ She jerked against the chains and cried weakly.

" _Dol, I can't. You're all I have left. Everyone else is gone or-"_

" _We can't afford to make the selfish choice here. After everything. I love you, Bella but-"_

I was jerked out of her mind and thrown back into reality.

"Stay out of our head."

I didn't want to do this. I knew what needed to happen. I didn't want it to. I couldn't. I couldn't let her die. Even as I told myself this something else dawned on me. Could she die without me dying? I knew Dol was bound to me, I knew she couldn't die unless I did but could Ak die without me dying? They were the same person. If so I knew Mary wouldn't waste a breath considering it. She'd snap my neck and be done with it if it was the only way to kill her sister. _Edward, the vampire. We need to stand with her._

I moved to join Mary's side as another howl ripped through the air from the distance. It was getting further away though. Edward joined my side warily.

"Isabella, you are willing to stand against me? Even in knowing your sister's fate?"

"If it is what I must do then it is what I will do." I put on a mask of confidence. Inside I was dying though. Inside I knew that Dol had told me I needed to kill her.

"Two sisters gathered to kill their sister. About four incarnations ago I loved reading tragedies." Ak crouched low to the ground, the sound of bones breaking filled the air and she was replaced by a wolf, she growled and lunged for Mary, I tackled her mid-air, and we rolled across the ground. I pushed against her chest as she snapped at my throat. Someone else hit her and knocked her off me, I got to my feet slowly and watched as Ak and Mary rolled across the ground. Mary ended up pinned beneath the wolf who lifted its head, preparing to strike.

What happened next was beyond me. Something I couldn't believe. Out of the tree line, out of nowhere came a small boy. He hit Ak's back, wrapping his arms around her neck and pulling. It was clear it didn't affect her, she easily jerked her body and sent the small boy flying through the air, I was moving before I realized it happened, I caught him midair, wrapping my arms around him.

"Brady, what the hell are you doing here!"

He let out a small sound and fought against me, Ak turned her focus straight to the small boy in my arms and froze in place. Mary took advantage of her shock and kicked her off of her. Ak managed to catch herself on the ground, sliding across it. Brady managed to get out of my hold and joined Mary's side, crouching to the ground and glaring at Ak. Ak stared at the young boy in shock, Mary knelt down and wrapped her arm around the small boy's shoulder, watching Ak with a grim smile.

"Sister, I am surprised you didn't see him before. He is after all her son."

She was replaced by her human form. "Bur." She breathed the word. Another name.

"Your first son. Your first ever son. The one you murdered. Now he's human. Because of you he is human."

Ak growled lowly and shook her head. "No. My son is dead. He has been dead for millions of years."

Then she was a wolf flying through the air, going straight for Brady. Edward snarled from somewhere and took her down. It took hardly any effort from the wolf before her teeth sank into his neck and his head was torn from his body. Mary wasted no time before she was on her back. "Isabella, get Brady out of here!" I grabbed him as he struggled to help Mary, his Imprintee. The two girls began fighting again, Mary dodging as Ak bit and clawed at her. I knew from what was happening Mary wasn't going to win. Ak had thousands of animal essences running through her. It was clear that all of those animals were making her stronger than she should've been. I'd seen Dol have bones broken at the hits of vampires before. It was clear that the strikes didn't hurt her. She didn't care. Mary wouldn't win this. She couldn't win this. Not on her own. Another howl ripped through the air from the distance. Rosalie. I could assume based off the fact that Brady was in his human form that he was a human. I could tell from his scent. If I was right that meant the entire pack was probably human again. I knelt down and set Brady down. "Brady, go. Now. Go find Rosalie. You need to wake her up before she kills anyone." He whimpered and looked between myself and the two fighting girls. He was the only one that could wake her up. I knew no matter what Rosalie wouldn't let her wolf kill another child.

"You'll keep her safe? Mary will be safe?"

"Yes, Brady. Now go." I growled the words. He gave the two girls one last glance then took off towards the sound of Rosalie's howl. I was about to help Mary…kill her…I didn't want to. I moved my focus to my Mary who was barely dodging the strikes of Ak who had shifted into a bear now. That many essences. So many animals…there had to be something that I could use to help her.

" _-she has bound her soul to my –as they refer to it as- essence."_ I wished I'd thought of it sooner. I grabbed onto that connection.

 _Back off!_ Ak instantly did as told, her head jerking towards me. _Hold still and shift into your human form._

In seconds she was human again, glaring at me. "This isn't your battle, Isabella!"

Mary looked shocked at first, staring at the girl in front of her. Realization dawned on her and she grinned. "I knew I turned you into a Half Breed for a reason." She tilted her head.

"Are you going to kill me while I'm completely defenseless? Is that the kind of person you are, Isabella?" She searched my expression, I buried all of the pain and fear that wanted to show.

"I have to agree with my sister. It hardly seems fair to end this battle without her being able to defend herself." Mary circled around her, slowly Ak's expression became a hostile glare.

"This battle is over." I growled. "Let Dol out. Now."

Ak grinned. "As you command."

She dropped to her knees and screamed, I wasted no time in joining her side, she shook violently and laughed weakly.

"Bella." She whispered. This was Dol. I could tell by the way she spoke. She met my eyes, the ever changing eyes I knew so well.

"She's going to die. Bella, she needs to expel those animal souls before it kills her." Mary was on her other side now.

"No. Bella, no. Let me die. Please. I can't do this. I can't risk her winning this. Please." She grabbed onto me and hugged me tightly, sobbing.

"Dol-"

"She will kill off all of humanity if she wins. We can't risk this. Bella, please."

"You can't die. Send the essences back, Dol." She whimpered and closed her eyes.

"Bella, don't do this. I-" She jerked away from me and screamed, essences of thousands of animals flying out of every inch of her skin. When it was over she fell flat on her back. Her eyes opened weakly, deep brown again. "I have to say, you're a clever girl, Isabella. This isn't over yet and your part is done. You releveled the playing field. All it cost was your creator and your sister's life. Be done with it, Mer. It's time to end this battle." I couldn't bring myself to think about Edward's body. I wouldn't dwell on it. I wouldn't think about it. I could reattach his head again later.

Mary put her hand on the center of Ak's chest and looked at me with a sad smile. "Isabella, I have to kill her." The initial childish behavior had dissipated. "It is her or me. We both have known this for millions of years. Before language was established we always knew that we would end up killing each other again. I am truly sorry you got involved in this. If you choose to defend her you will have to kill me which I will not allow to happen. It is my job to keep her from destroying humanity. If I don't kill her she will be reborn again and cycle won't end."

I looked at Ak, at Dol, she was glaring at me tiredly. "You will not shift and answer my question. Why do you want humanity dead?"

"Because humanity is disgusting. Even millions of years ago I made it my job to kill off humans who would do things that are disgusting. I was once something basic. My powers were limited. I was born human. Then I died and I became something more. There are no words to describe what was done to myself and sister. Mer became the first of the blood drinkers. I became the first of shapeshifters. I had my son. The only child any of my incarnations has ever had until this one. As time passed, as I developed, I learned how to do more things. Better ways to kill disgusting humans. Then I realized that it wasn't just some of the humans. It was all of the humans. I didn't directly act during this time. I chose to influence some of her vampires. I convinced them to nearly wipe out humanity."

" _We'd nearly overpopulated the human race. Then the entire vampire population dropped."_ Carlisle's voice rang through my head.

"You took out the vampires all those years ago." I looked at Mary who nodded once.

"I keep the balance between our species." She looked back at her sister. "She hasn't made an appearance like this in a long time."

"I hadn't learned how to create new shapeshifters yet. If I had known I would have finished the human scum off." She laughed. "I was _so close_. So very close. If you hadn't shown up I would've had it. I would've had everything to finish my job."

"Let me talk to Dol." Her eyes changed back to the ever changing colors. "Dol-"

"I love you, Bella. I know you aren't going to let this happen." She looked at Mary. "Do it."

"No!" I was too late. Mary grabbed Dol's head and snapped her neck.

I expected something painful. She was bound to my soul after all. Nothing happened though. Nothing except the scream of rage as I dropped down to my sister's side and hissed at Mary. No. Dol. No.

_Don't you dare die on me! Dol! I swear to God if you die on me I will bring you back to life and kill you!_

The girl in my arms began to squirm then let out of a scream of pure raw agony. I froze in place.

Mary growled lowly and I moved so I was standing protectively over her body, baring my teeth at the original vampire. "She isn't going to die."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Isabella. My sister has to die."

"Maybe your sister is dead. Give me a minute. Please, Mer. Please. She's my sister too. If you had the opportunity would you have saved your sister?" She gave me one of the most life threatening looks I'd ever seen.

"One minute. Longer than that and I will kill you both. I was thinking I wouldn't have to but clearly I was wrong."

I looked down at Dol as Mary touched the side of her head and she stopped screaming. "What did you-"

"Knocked her unconscious. It doesn't ease her pain but it will keep the abomination from finding us." I ignored her insult towards Rosalie as I closed my eyes and found the connection to Dol, I forced my way into her mind and was overwhelmed with what I saw. Dol was laying on the ground, crying in the middle of her mental landscape, thousands and thousands of other people were around her some no older than a few days while some were in their late forties. One by one each person dropped down, dead. Ak was standing in front of Dol, she turned to face me.

"Congratulations. You won. Piece by piece our soul is being ripped apart. Millions of years of life being torn away from the girl you knew as your sister. When it's over, your sister might be alive but she is only part of our soul. She isn't going to ever be whole again."

"You're going to die?" That was all that mattered. I would help Dol through this as long as Ak died. If she didn't then we'd both die.

"Yes. Tell my sister I said it was a good fight." She shook her head and watched as the thousands of other people died, one by one, they had to be all of the different incarnations of her.

I left her mind and focused on Mary who was leaning over Edward, reattaching his head to his body. She turned her focus to me. "Since you didn't jump me I'm assuming you have good news for you?"

"Her soul is being torn to shreds."

Mary nodded and returned her focus to Edward as his eyes opened, she shoved his head to the side and bit into his neck, he struggled against her briefly before going limp under her hold.

"What are you-"

"Making him human again."

"Why?"

"Because I don't like him. He was a prize but you domesticated him. He's not the kind of vampire I need walking the planet at this time." I nodded absently as I lifted Dol into my arms, rising to my feet.

"Are you going to stay around?"

"I don't want to leave Bur-um, Brady but I do have a job. I have to finish what I started."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm great. Absolutely wonderful." She narrowed her eyes at me. "I just killed my sister. I feel like shit."

"I wish you could've saved her."

"It's been a million years coming. It doesn't make it hurt any less but it makes it easier to accept." She lifted Edward with ease, it looked awkward considering their significant size differences but it hardly appeared to phase her.

"How do you make vampires back into humans?"

She headed in the direction of the campsite, I held Dol close and followed her warily. "It's complicated. The best way I can explain it is my…as you call it, venom. It's interchangeable. I can focus myself and change the functionality of it. It's how I turned you into a Half Breed." She paused and sniffed the air. "The abomination is human again."

"Her name is Rosalie. She isn't an abomination."

Mary stopped in her tracks for a second before continuing forward. "I know. Brady talked about her."

"Why did you take him?"

"It was…shock. I haven't seen him in millions of years. I was in shock. It's been millions of years since I've seen him. His mom killed him millions of years ago. She killed him because I loved him more than I loved her. We were so young."

"You don't sound like the same girl we first encountered."

"I've existed for millions of years. It's not easy to keep a grip on my sanity all the time. When I saw her I snapped back to the child I was when I was created." We arrived in the clearing, there were several shifters pacing around the clearing. One of them caught sight of us and growled quietly. "Take her into the cave."

Quil came out of Carlisle's cabin and moved towards us, Embry and Seth coming out close behind him. "Seth, take him." Mary allowed Seth to move forward and take Edward from her. "You need to leave." Seth turned and carried Edward back in the direction of the cabin.

"I can't do that. Not unless Brady tells me to go." Quil growled lowly, Embry stepped forward so he was next to Quil. His focus was on Dol.

"Is she…" Embry whimpered slightly.

"She's alive." I moved my focus to Quil. "She isn't a threat." Quil narrowed his eyes at her. "Brady imprinted on her."

Just like that Quil's entire demeanor changed. He dropped his shoulders and shook his head, turning and heading back towards Carlisle's cabin.

"Can I take her?" I nodded to Embry and he took Dol from me. "I'm going to put her in Rose's bed. You'll be alright?"

I nodded and looked at Mary who was watching him carry off my sister. "Can I ask you some things?"

"Go ahead." She shook her head and looked down at her feet.

"Could she have been saved? Was there anyway?"

"No. She's been like this since we were human."

"What was life like back then?"

"Bland. All life was back then was survival. Ak and I were siblings. We shared a father. She would sneak out into the woods at night and one night I followed her out. That was when I caught her killing one of the others. Killing our own kind was unforgiveable. I should have told our leader."

"How would you have told him?"

"Though language wasn't evolved we still had ways to symbolize things. I didn't rat on her though. Instead I confronted her. That night we killed each other and _something_ brought us back. I don't know what it is. I never will. At the start we worked together. I'd feed on those she found unworthy of living. While in one of the villages she became pregnant and when the boy and I grew a strong bond she killed him out of spite because I loved him more than her. It was at that time when I realized we had almost killed off the human race so I killed her and she was reborn for the first time. Back then she was born to humans but always with the same power. I picked up the pattern pretty quickly. In the early days she was either worshipped or feared. They would kill her at birth or worship her as a goddess. I didn't interfere. I watched her as she would live and die. I was cursed to eternity on Earth while she was cursed to eternity without truly dying."

"Where have you been? You judged both myself and Nahuel for burying ourselves but your face isn't all over the place. Where have you been all these years?"

"I've kept to myself for the most part. It's part of why I'm so mentally unstable. I've spent the past million years isolating myself. I've been living somewhere in the middle of what I believe is called Africa for a large portion of it. I only became aware of the humanity problem a few years ago. It has taken me a while to take action because I had to reorder my mentality so I could do my job." She frowned.

"Are you going to continue killing off the humans?" I asked after a moment.

"Do you want me to answer that honestly?"

"Probably not."

"Can I call you Bella?" I looked down at her before moving my focus to the sky above me.

"Only my friends call me that."

She looked away and nodded slightly. "I suppose I don't have the right to call you that then."

"No. Go ahead and call me Bella. It's my name." It was more than that though. It was the name Rosalie had given me. It was who I was now. Bella Marie Swan. Isabella was the name I had been called when I was property. I was free now though.

"Would you like me to make you human again? I don't need you to remain as a Half Breed."

"I think I'll stay like this. I like having control of my mind again." We didn't say anything else at first. "How did you knock her out?"

"I possess several gifts unlike the normal vampire. I can make people incapable of perceiving my presence, I can make them sleep by a touch, I can get into people's heads and make them forget me, and so much more. Even after all this time I'm still learning some of them."

"Interesting."

I closed my eyes then opened them again when a voice entered my mind. _Bella._ Dol.

I wasted no time, bolting into the cave. She was sitting up in the center of it, Embry sitting next to her. She looked at me and smiled tearfully. "Bella."

"Dol." I was by her side in a second, pulling her into a tight hug, tears filling my eyes.

"Bella." She sounded dazed, she hugged me back tightly.

"How are you?"

"It's…complicated…I am seeing things…memories from my other lifetimes…it's…" She trembled slightly and pulled away, holding her head and whimpering quietly. "It's like I have thousands of voices in my head at once. There is so much there but I can't quite reach any of it. I see things then they're gone. It's…confusing."

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She blinked and focused on me. "We'll get through this." She nodded and closed her eyes.

I lay down next to her, thoughtful. Mary was going to continue decimating the human population. For some reason it didn't bother me. It should've but it didn't. I had to wonder what would happen now that it was over. What would we do now? Would Dol be herself again? There were so many possibilities. So many possible things that could happen. They were endless. And for once, it was comforting. The unknown wasn't going to drive me insane. Instead it was going to make things easier. Dol laid down next to me, curling up and sighing softly.

Things would be okay. Life would be alright. The possibilities were endless.


	3. Essence ~ Alternate Ending 1 ~ 15 Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I'm not a fan of happily ever after's so the fact that Dol is alive might be good but what kind of ripple effect will that have on the outcomes of their lives?

My name was Isabella Marie Swan. It was the name I was born with. It's not who I am anymore. After the events that happened fifteen years ago I chose to rid myself of the name Isabella. I didn't want to be Isabella anymore. What followed the death of Ak hadn't been pretty. Mary had held true to her word and cut the human population down significantly. It had taken her fifteen years to do it but there were around four billion people left on the Earth. It had been called a random disease officially of course very few people had believed it. Religious groups had called it the wrath of a God. Some said it was a god or goddess. Others blamed the government. Only a small group of people had been right. The ones who believed in supernatural beings had gotten it correctly.

The few that got it right would never know the truth. That it was the original vampire believed the world needed to be rebalanced and even if we'd wanted to there was nothing we could have done to stop her. Even Brady wouldn't have been able to stop her.

The world was smaller now. Mary had established a group of five vampires that were now in charge of making sure that things stayed balanced then she had "gone underground" as she called it. The truth was she'd come to live with Brady, myself, Rosalie, Dol, and my daughter.

I had debated for months on what to name my daughter. A month before her birth my husband had had a bad run in with one of the new vampires and been killed. I guess it made me a widow of ten years. I couldn't complain though. John had been a great man and while his death was unfortunate I, -I hated to say it, even now- hadn't ever really loved him. Not in the way that truly mattered. I had grieved his death but it hadn't destroyed me like it should have.

I'd named my daughter Renesmee. I hadn't been sure at first but after a bit of pushing from a mostly coherent Dol I'd agreed to do it.

Dol. Oh, Dol. She hadn't been whole since that day. She'd was more unstable than I ever had been. She would sometimes spend days at a time in a daze, staring off into space. I'd go into her mind and all I would see is memories floating around, memories I knew weren't her's. I wasn't able to wake her up from these. Even when she wasn't lost in memories that weren't her's she was constantly slipping out of focus. We had tried using my ability to wall off sections of her mind but it had never worked.

_I was jerked awake as screaming filled the air. I got to my feet and bolted into the hall, pulling open Dol's bedroom door and dropping down next to my sister._

" _Dol. Dol, wake up." I shook her, as she writhed and sobbed in her sleep._

_I heard someone else come in the room before Brady took his place across from me, he grabbed her hand._

" _Mom, you need to wake up." They had grown close over the past few years. He'd forgiven her for leaving him. She jerked up and hugged her knees to her chest, shaking violently._

" _Not me. Not me. Wasn't me. Wouldn't do that. Not a murderer."_

" _Dol." She blinked several times, focusing on her surroundings. Tears falling down her cheeks. "Come back to us. Come on."_

_She looked at Brady for a second then looked down. "I saw it. Bur's death. I saw it. I felt his bones break beneath my fingers, saw his body go limp, and saw the life leave his eyes."_

_Brady pulled Dol into his arms and held her close as she cried softly. "That wasn't you. It was never you. Remember that, Mom. It wasn't your fault."_

_I got to my feet slowly as she curled into Brady's arms. I looked up at the door as a medium sized wolf appeared in it, she moved into the room and jumped up on the bed. Lila. Brady's girlfriend. I watched as Brady lay down with Dol held close to him and Lila rested her head on his stomach after laying down next to him._

_Brady met my eyes and I knew I could leave her alone for the night. She'd be okay. They had her. I walked out into the hall, closing the door behind me and leaning against it. Things would get better._

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"Bella, come _on_." Rosalie beat on my door impatiently.

"Give me ten seconds." I shook my head as I pulled the dress she had picked out for me on.

"One. Two. Three. Four." I shook my head and laughed as I walked over to the door, unlocking it.

"Good. You look great."

"Remind me why you're making me dress up?"

"It's a surprise." She grinned and tilted her head down the hall. "Brady, if Lila isn't dressed when I come in I will have your head on a platter!"

"It's our birthday. What possible surprise could you have for me that would require the torture of dressing up?"

"Humor me." She headed down the hall and flung Brady's door open.

"Mom!"

She disappeared into his room and I drowned out the sound of her yelling at him. I found my way down the hall and headed up the stairwell, going down the hall and knocking on Renesmee's door before pushing it open.

She was on the floor, drawing something with Mary sitting on the bed watching her. "Hey, Mary. What're you doing up here?"

"Watching your little artist." Renesmee hardly acknowledged me, whatever she was drawing had her full attention.

"I thought you'd be down there defending Brady."

"I gotta let him suffer sometimes." She grinned and moved down next to Renesmee. The truth was she had taken a strong interest in Renesmee. Whenever Brady kicked her out she would come play with Renesmee much like she'd done with Brady when he was her age. Maybe it was the age similarities, giving her a feeling of being close to someone again like she had her sister at one point in her life. I didn't particularly care as long as she kept my daughter safe.

"What're you drawing?" I joined her and looked at the drawing of Dol.

"Aunt Dol. I miss her." Dol hadn't lived with us for about a year now. She'd moved in with her boyfriend and his Imprintee. After the memory of killing Bur she had –for the most part- mentally stabilized. I missed having her around all the time but having her actually happy after years of suffering from memories that weren't hers made missing her worth it.

"We're going to see her in a few."

"I know." She got up and walked over to her desk, setting the picture on top of a pile of other pictures. "I'm gonna get ready."

She had always been shy and excelled beyond her age, something seemed off about her though. She seemed distant. "Are you alright, Nes?"

"Yeah." She turned and gave me a half-hearted smile.

"Don't lie to me. What's wrong?"

She looked down and chewed on her bottom lip. "I'm scared."

My eyes widened. "What about?" I walked over to her and picked her up with ease, hugging her tightly.

"I heard you and Aunt Rose talk about how your parents died when you were around my age."

Crap. "That won't happen to you. Nothing is going to happen to me. You won't go through any of the terrible things I had to when I was your age." I hugged her close as she shook in my arms. "I promise you, Nes. _Nothing_ will ever happen to you." I set her down carefully and knelt down in front of her. "Look at me." She lifted her gaze to meet mine. "We have the most badass vampire in the world with us. She won't let you lose your family."

"She didn't protect my dad." I flinched and kissed her forehead. Mary moved in next to me and pulled Renesmee into a hug.

I rose to my feet and backed away. "Ness, you _know_ I would have saved your father if I'd known he was in danger. It was a terrible accident and I'm sorry it happened." She pulled away from my daughter and lifted her hand up and rotated her hand in a circle before moving it to her heart then holding her hand up level with Renesmee's heart. After a moment Renesmee nodded and repeated the same movements, an adoring smile covering her face before she went to her closet and dug through it. I'd asked multiple times what it meant but Mary wouldn't tell me and Renesmee told me it was a secret that she couldn't share. I could assume it meant something about being friends or something along those lines but it would be nice to know the full meaning was.

"Will you two ever tell me what your secret signal means?"

"Nope." Renesmee's voice came from the closet.

Mary smiled slyly. "It is from pre-language. That's all you get. Now go make sure my nephew isn't getting beheaded by his mom." I shook my head and grinned at her.

"If Rose planned on beheading her son she probably would've done it a long time ago." I left them anyways, focusing my hearing on them as I walked away.

"Mary, when are you gonna ask my mom to let you do it?"

"We both know I don't ask anyone to do anything. The problem is your age. You're still so young. If I were to change you at this age you would be as unpredictable as me." I froze in my tracks.

Was she seriously talking about making Renesmee into a vampire?

She wouldn't.

There was no way.

Even as the shock ran through me I couldn't bring myself to confront her about it. She was right. If she wanted to make my daughter a vampire she would do it. No one would be able to stop her.

"I'll take the fact that you didn't come yell at me as consent."

I shook my head and continued forward and down the stairwell.

"Thank you, mom!" Renesmee's voice was so full of excitement that I couldn't help but grin. So my daughter was going to become a vampire. Interesting.

.-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-.

The second we went through the door Dol pulled me into a tight hug. "Happy birthday, Bella." She tightened her hold.

"Happy birthday, Dol." We pulled apart and I looked past her to see Embry sitting on the stairs.

"Aunt Dol!" Renesmee squeezed between us and hugged her aunt. I stepped back as Dol picked her up and hugged her.

"Hey, Ness." She seemed to zone out for a brief second before she blinked and focused on the girl in her arms.

"On that note, we will-"

Dol's head snapped up as she set Renesmee down. "Oh no you don't, Brady." She moved around us and pulled him into a hug. "It's our birthday. You don't get to bail out on me or your aunt."

"Fine." He pulled away from her and took Lila's hand, pulling her into the living room.

"Mind if I talk to you alone for a second, Dol?" She nodded and led me into the kitchen where Paul was digging through the fridge. I took a seat on one of the barstools and watched their interaction.

She smacked him in the back of the head playfully and he turned around, pulling her into a close embrace before kissing her. She pulled away earning a disappointed sound from him. "Go say hi to our son."

He let go of her, taking the hint and moving around her. "Hey, Bella." He acknowledged as he walked past me.

"So what did you want to talk about?" She asked as she got into the freezer. I knew what she was after. Our solution to everything good and bad. She pulled out an ice cream carton and set it down on the counter.

"Mary is going to turn Nes into a vampire." I expected at least slight shock but it didn't come. Instead she just continued on her path, pulling two spoons out of the drawer. "Did you know?"

"I assumed it would happen." She moved around the table and joined me, setting the carton in front of us before handing me one of the spoons and scooping a spoonful of ice-cream and taking a bite.

"How?"

"The memories I get of all of my other lives. I saw her and me…Ak…" She zoned out for a second before shaking her head and focusing. "That hand signal they use with each other means –very loosely translated from a time with no real language- that they are family. Once Mary started seeing her as a sister it was bound to happen that she'd want to keep her forever.

I nodded and took a bite of ice-cream. "It should bother me."

"Mary was a good sister. That was her biggest mistake. She loved her sister too much." She smiled weakly and shook her head. "I suppose that was my biggest mistake as well."

"What are you talking about?"

"I should've died when Mary killed every other incarnation of me. The only thing that kept me alive was the fact that I bound myself to your soul at birth. Don't get me wrong, being alive, it's great. But knowing that I will never be able to die until you're dead. It hurts. I'm going to have to watch you die. When we were in Missouri it was great but it was also terrible. I saved the life of the woman who raised my son. It also was the perfect leverage for Kachiri."

I dropped the spoon as images of Kachiri flashed through my mind. For the most part the torture she'd inflicted hadn't been as much of a trigger in my mind for years. Mary had apparently fixed most of it. However I still occasionally saw things that weren't there and triggers would occasionally affect me. "Crap, Bella. I'm sorry."

I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. "It's okay. Just images." I pushed the memories away and gave her a weak smile. "Look at that, both of us mentally unstable nut cases." Someone knocked on the door and Dol tilted her head.

"I didn't invite anyone else. Did you?" I shook my head as she got up and went to the door. I followed closely; extremely curious who else would show up.

She opened the door and froze. "Edward?"

I was stunned. Edward never came to directly visit us, he would take Renesmee out to do things because we'd named her after his daughter and he'd grown a slight attachment towards her but he wasn't exactly forgiving that I hadn't fought Mary about his return to humanity. "Rosalie asked me to come, can I?"

I blinked and shook my head as Dol stepped back, allowing Edward in. He was holding two small boxes. This was the first time I'd seen him and four years but it didn't stop the memories from my fantasy life from surfacing. "Stop reliving your insanity, Isabelle."

I gave him a weak smile as he handed Dol one of the two boxes. "Happy Birthday, girls."

He held up the other one in offering to me, I took it hesitantly. "Consider this my peace offering."

"You're joking, right? Fifteen years of a grudge for something I had no control over and now you want to give me a peace offering?"

He shook the box in front of me and gave me one of those 'I own the world' looks. I shook my head and knocked it out of his hand. "Fuck you, Edward."

He sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Sorry I came."

"Uncle Ed!" Renesmee came running out of the living room and jumped into his arms, giving him barely any time to catch her.

"Nope you're staying." Dol moved around him and closed the door before going into the living room.

I went to follow her but Edward grabbed my arm before I could. "Wait." I turned to watch him set Renesmee down and whisper something in her ear. She nodded furiously before going back into the living room.

"What do you want?"

"To formally apologize." He hesitated then moved into the dining room, I followed him warily as he sat down at the table and moved his focus to me. "Look, I know I treated you like shit out of vengeance. I've continued that pattern. I'm trying to right my wrongs though."

"Right your wrongs?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "I've been thinking a lot, Isabelle. A lot. I have been spiteful, immature, and an ass to you. Even after everything you went out of your way to protect me."

"It's taken you long enough." I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him.

"I want to try to be friends. Or at least not this hostile whatever it is that we have."

I didn't need to think about before I answered. "Okay."

He stared at me. "You're joking?"

"Edward, even after all the shit you put me through I have done nothing but help you and save your life. I'd do it again too." He rose to his feet and moved so he was standing a few inches in front of me.

"I've never thanked you for naming your daughter after Renesmee."

"I didn't do it for you."

"I know. You did it in honor of her. You didn't know her very well but you still named your daughter after her."

"She was a good person. I don't think I'll ever get over letting her die."

He stepped back and held out his hand. "Let's turn over a new leaf. Forget all the shit from the past. Hello, my name is Edward." I considered for a moment before taking his hand.

"My name is Bella." He nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Isabelle." I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him. He let go of my hand. "Now where are we going out to eat?"

"We aren't. Dol ordered pizza. Now come join the family." I turned away from him and joined the family in the living room. After a moment I heard him follow me in.

.-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-..-~**~-.

I was laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. After some pleading from Renesmee we'd agreed to spend the night here. Well I had, Rose had taken off about an hour ago and said she'd pick us up tomorrow.

I couldn't sleep for the life of me though. It wasn't that I wasn't tired, I was physically exhausted. I just couldn't shut my brain off.

_Are you awake?_

I couldn't help but grin. We never really used the telepathic link when we were in the same room. We'd come to the conclusion that it would be healthier to talk to each other face to face because of both of our mental instability. It didn't mean I didn't miss it though. _What do you think?_

It took her almost a solid minute to answer me. _I'm currently being haunted by the memories of a by the memories of French queen named Marie. It's weird. I vaguely remember Brady talking about her after school a few years ago. To think that at one point it was me. And she's not the only one. There are others._

I couldn't bring myself to be surprised, she was one carnation of millions of years of life. _Come here._

I moved into a sitting position and turned the table lamp on. I waited for her. When she joined me I gave her a tired smile. "How bad is it?"

"I'll take any one of the more recent lives over the ones from the time of Ak. Almost all of the memories from that time are terrible, early deaths."

"Our lifespans were short back then." We both looked over at the couch where Mary was now stretched out. "You two should go for a walk." It wasn't a suggestion.

"Why?"

"You'll want to go for a walk." She gave Dol a hard look before she vanished.

We shared a look before getting up and heading outside. I immediately saw why she had us come out, freezing in place and glaring at the person standing on the sidewalk.

I could feel the rage break through our mental connection the second she saw him. "Alec!" She stormed down the sidewalk, I had to grab her and stop her before she decided to punch him. "Bella, let me go!" She jerked against me, I stepped between them, blocking her path and growling at him.

"Give me ten seconds to explain myself, Blue."

"Mary! Fucking make him human so I can kill him!"

I saw the visuals of exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to bury him alive and let him starve to death. I couldn't bring myself to disagree with that. He had taken off after Jane had killed her mother. Not a peep from him for around fifteen years. I could get over my anger towards Edward. This was something completely different though. Jane had killed the only family member we had left and he'd left with her.

Mary appeared behind him. "Give him his ten seconds." He jerked around to look at Mary before turning back to us.

"Ten." Dol's voice was hostile as she began her countdown.

"I know I fucked up. I shouldn't have…Blue, she's my sister. Surely you can understand me sticking by my sister's side."

Why would he show his face now? What was the point of this? "Where is she? I can kill two birds with one stone. Quite literally."

He looked behind him again before returning his focus to Dol. "Dead."

I couldn't bring myself to feel bad for him though. I could tell Dol felt the same way.

"Your ten seconds is up." Alec's eyes widened as he made a move to run, Mary grabbed him mid step and shoved him to the ground, leaning over him and biting his neck without a second thought.

Dol turned away and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me and crying into my shoulder. I held her close and closed my eyes. We finally got to avenge her mother's death. After all these years it would finally happen. I shouldn't have been so happy about revenge but Ellen shouldn't have died. Not like she did. I could understand Alec's side, he did what he did for family. We would do what we were doing for family as well. It always came back to family.


	4. Essence ~ Alternate Ending 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I was talking to a friend. I was explaining to him Dol and Bella's bond and how reliant they were on each other. This ending came to mind based off of that concept and I couldn't resist sharing it with you. I'm warning you, this ending is the most heartbreaking ending I've written. I'm not sure if I should warn about triggers but I will anyway. This is my second alternate ending to Essence. Enjoy.

"Hello." Her voice was childish but there was more. The young girl -who couldn't have been older than ten- stood several feet in front of us, her deep brown curly locks framing her dark yet pale face. Her deep red glowing eyes were feral. Red eyes. I'd never seen a vampire with red eyes. Why were they red? She looked between the three of us. I was frozen in place. The girl in front of us sent raw fear through me. Everything about her told me to run. To leave. To get out as fast as I could. She looked between all of us before settling her gaze on Dol. "Say the words, Old Soul. It is ringing through your head." The young girl's voice now held age. It was full of knowledge. I could feel Dol's fear alongside my own. That wall she'd built had crumpled. Any of the pain and agony and worry from before was replaced with raw fear.

Dol grabbed hold of my arm, digging her fingers painfully into my wrist.

"You aren't speaking? That isn't any good. We really need to talk, Sister." Her voice turned lethal as the word sister escaped her mouth. "I'm the original vampire."

Rosalie spoke up, "no one here is your sister and what the fuck is an old soul?" The attitude she tried to put into it would have been believable if her voice hadn't been shaking.

"Mind your tongue, Abomination or I will be forced to remove it." The girl's gaze snapped to Rosalie before returning to Dol.

"Of course you don't know. You have been doing someone has been telling you to do. You would not know. She's close to the surface though. I can feel her." She tilted her head slightly. "What do you know of yourself, Sister? Of the shapeshifter you are."

Dol was frozen in place. She hadn't spoken a word before and she clearly wasn't going to now.

"Spectral shapeshifters are born only after the previous one has died. Only when one has died can another one live." I recited the words Quil had spoken to me.

"That is incorrect. Have you ever wondered _why_ she looks nothing of her mother? Have you never questioned her and the young boy's eyes?"

"How do you know about Brady?" Rosalie moved to go after her but was stopped by Edward who grabbed her arms and pinned them to her back. I tilted my head slightly and saw that same fear I'd seen when he'd shown up at the hotel in his expression.

"Rosalie, don't." I returned my focus to the young girl.

"They are the eyes of my sister. She is an Anima Renatus, Old Soul, the reborn souls of old. One cursed to eternity on Earth. We have been at war for a very long time, Sister. Your children and my children have spent eternity in a never ending war." The child's eyes flashed black. "You've crossed a line though. You created abominations. You created them following the ancient rules. It's time though. It's time to end this."

"What are you talking about?" I moved slightly in front of Dol. "She isn't your sister. You're a fucking vampire. She's a shapeshifter from the twenty-first century."

The child's expression flashed briefly. She paid no attention to me, moving her focus past me. "Wake up, Sister! Do this battle in the front! Not through the ignorant ones here! Wake up!" The girl stomped her foot and the ground shook beneath me, icy hands wrapped around me then suddenly my back was pressed to Edward's chest. The girl tilted her head. "It appears my children carry the curse as well. Unable to kill our children. A massive inconvenience when you need to wipe out all of your own ignorant stupid creations. I can't begin to comprehend the level of idiocy that has made its way into our kinds. Feeding on humans but not killing. Do they not realize our purpose? Why we exist?"

It hit me instantly. "Those bodies. The mass murders... The slaughterhouses..."

"Vampires exist for one reason. To kill. It is my job to keep the balance. To ensure humanity and vampires don't outweigh each other." Her gaze lingered on me for a second longer than was comfortable before moving to Edward. "You were a prize. You did what you were supposed to do. That was why I left you the gift. Why I didn't make you human. I'm beginning to see that mistake. Standing with the Abomination, the blood, and my sister? I understand that you're compelled to protect your creation but you should be standing with me. Not them. Join me, Edward. Stand by The Creator. It should be an honor to you."

Edward shifted positions behind me. "Unfortunately I can't do that. You killed her mother. Her mother was a good woman."

Anger flashed through the girl's eyes. "I would never do that. I mass murder in times like this. Why would I do something as ignorant as kill a single human? More importantly. I would never go after the grandmother of that young boy."

I broke out of my fear. I needed to focus. Okay. The pack wouldn't be far away. I touched the connection to her essence and sent out an order. I felt terrible but I had to. I knew she wouldn't willingly do it. _Dol, call Quil and tell him to circle us._

I could feel the conflict in her mind but she did as I told. She didn't have a choice. I couldn't feel guilty about that right now though. "You unmade the vampires?" Her gaze moved to mine, an unsettling smiling ghosting across her lips.

"I thought you'd die. You and that boy. I left you both to die. You should have died. In all of the vampires on the planet the two of you _almost_ interested me. Why would a vampire give up this gift and choose to bury themselves alive? _Almost_. Then I realized you were cowards. He was the first on the list. I dug him up and pinned his body down then bit his neck and wiped his mind."

Keep her talking. Distract her. "So you can unmake vampires?"

"I am the original. The creator of an entire species that is unable to kill their own creations. By all technicalities every one of you is my creation. If I couldn't make you human again I would be at a massive disadvantage."

"Could you make us back?"

She ignored the question, her gaze returning to Dol. "Sister, I suggest you call off your hounds before I kill them all. Those aren't the ones for this battle."

Dol pulled on my arm and gave me a pleading look. It was hard to do it but I caved. I didn't want them to die. _Send them away._

"Sister! Wake up! I want to talk to you! Stop hiding and speak to me! "

Dol changed. I felt the change as our telepathic link walled itself off. Her stance became tenser, she stood taller and moved forward. The young girl began grinning.

"Sister."

"Hello, Mer." Her voice sounded older. So much older. She glanced over her shoulder at me and my heart sank. That wasn't my sister. Sure, she looked like my sister but the eyes said something different. Those ever changing eyes had become a deep brown. She returned her focus to the girl. Mer. Mary. This was the girl that had Brady had imprinted on. Things were going to get complicated quickly if this went out of control.

"It has been a very long time since we've talked, Sister."

The girl who was Dol but wasn't bowed her head. "I told you last time what would happen if we talked again."

"Allow me to quote you. 'Next time we meet one of us will die. By this point both of our children will have forgotten their purpose. I will create an army and lead them against you. We will destroy each other and the cycle of my eternity will be broken as will yours.' I do not sense the army you corrupted my creations with. They are not here."

"My influence wasn't as strong as it normally is. It appears our soul is bound to this girl. She has a great influence on us. Even greater now that she has bound her soul to my –as they refer to it as- essence." _Isabella Marie Swan. Before anything more happens remember that my sister lies. You have helped me with something though. You have given me a perspective on humanity. Your sister is still here. If things go south know she does love you._

The child bared her teeth at us. "She had no right to interfere like that! This is not her battle!"

"Sister, I am asking you. Leave. Let me do what I want to do."

"You know as well as I that that is not an option. I must keep the balance. I swore all those years ago that I would use eternity to maintain the balance in humanity."

"I can't let you do that." The girl in front of me lifted her hands above her head and clapped them together. The sound was louder than it should have been. It echoed through the trees and sent chills down my spine. I to grab Dol's shoulder but Edward grabbed my arm stopping me.

"That's cheating!" The young girl stepped back as something came flying through the air into Dol, then another, and another. Hundreds of things flew through the air into her, at first I didn't recognize what they were. I couldn't tell. Then I saw what it was. Essence. It was the essence of shapeshifters. The animals from hundreds of shapeshifters flying through the air and into Dol. Dol through her head back and laughed, a terrifying sound. It was a terrifying laugh.

I jerked against Edward's hold on me. _Dol! Please! Push her down!_

 _You really don't want her to do that, Isabella. Your sister will be eaten alive by what I am doing._ The girl who wasn't Dol rolled her around, stretching out before taking a deep breath and crouching down.

"You can't do that, Ak! You are cheating!" The young girl looked panicked as the girl who wasn't my sister moved towards her, Ak. Yet another name that sounded more like a sound than a word.

"Sister, I don't cheat. I bend the rules but I don't cheat."

The girl seemed to consider her options quickly before jumping up into the nearest tree. "You promised this battle would be fair!" Rosalie dropped to her knees next to me and grabbed her head. "But if you're going to use all of your assets it looks like I will have to do the same!" Then a massive force hit me, knocking me to the ground. Teeth entered into my neck and an agonized scream escaped me. Sharp fiery pain tore through me. It was like being turned. It was exactly like being turned. Except the burning only lasted what was probably a few seconds. White hot agony tore through my body and then it was over. That was it. And I felt it. My mind. Everything open and free again. It felt amazing. Even with that something was off, I could feel my vampire strength and speed and everything else back but something felt horribly out of place. Like something important was missing. I couldn't dwell on that right now.

"It looks like you're one of my only hopes, Isabella. Get up now." Mer got off of me and I was on my feet in seconds. Dol. My mind was open again. I could do this. I just needed to get this other girl to drop her guard so I could force my way into my sister's mind.

Edward took hold of me and turned me so I was facing him. "Isabella, are you-"

It wasn't hard to tear the shield off my mind long enough to let Edward hear my thoughts. _Focus on the current problem._ I turned and watched a look of fear shoot across Dol –no Ak-'s face.

"This abomination is technically mine. Flick the right switch in her mind and…" I focused on Rosalie who threw her head back and let out a sound between a scream and howl. The sound of snapping bones filled the air and her skin began to ripple as something began to surface from beneath it. She made another of the sound between a scream and howl, this time more of a howl.

"You absolute idiot! You cannot control the creature beneath the surface!" Ak took off into the trees, I didn't stick around to watch Rosalie change. I took off after her at full speed. If only all vampire transformations took this long. I suppose it made sense since I'd been bitten by the original. I tackled the girl who wasn't my sister to the ground, she struggled against me. "Let me go, Isabella!" She kicked me in the stomach and I went flying into a tree, knocking it down and…it hurt. I held my stomach and winced at the terrible pain in my back. It hurt? I thought vampires couldn't feel real pain? "It would take days for you to be able to become a full vampire, Isabella. You may have some of the vampire strengths back but your heart is still beating. This is not your fight, Isabella. This is a fight between myself and my sister. You do not want to be involved in this!"

"I am already involved! You're wearing my sister's face!" I growled and struggled to my feet.

"If you choose to fight me, Isabella and my sister gets away. She will wipe out most of humanity." The other girl, Mer, or Mary. She came out of the trees from where we'd come from. She moved so she was standing next to me.

"I will wipe out most of it. I keep the balance. It is my job. Shapeshifters have lost their way more than the vampires. They live to wipe out the human race. She will kill off every one of the humans." Mary stepped forward in front of me. An animalistic howl tore through the air from where we'd come from. Ak jerked her head in the direction of the sound. A low growl escaping her.

"Sister, you have made a mistake by releasing that beast. You can't control it. Neither of us have that power."

"You cheated, Sister. You stole the souls of all of those animals from their human hosts. That is not how the battle was supposed to happen, Sister." She stepped forward. "So, if you are going to choose not to bring your army here to fight and would rather steal what makes them special to make yourself stronger I will have to use what I have here."

I was beyond confused by the current situation. Dol was actually an…Old Soul who was now being possessed by what I had to assume was the first incarnation of her. Mary had openly admitted to killing off all of those humans but she'd claimed she was only doing it to keep the balance…they were supposed to fight... To the death…that was Dol. Dol. No.

"Is realization dawning on you, Isabella? I know it is on your sister. Tell me, Isabella. Will you stand by me and assist me in killing my sister? Because if you do not she will kill me." Edward came out of the trees followed closely by a large wolf like creature who moved across the ground in an apelike fashion. Edward grabbed me and threw me over his shoulders and carried me into the trees. "You made a mistake, Mer! You made a deadly mistake! She will kill us all! I told you that you couldn't control her!" The two girls were running on opposite sides of Edward as he carried me through the trees.

Edward ducked down as Mary jumped over him, landing on Ak and knocking her across the ground. I wasted no time before dropping off his back and jumping on Mary's back, wrapping my arms around her neck and pulling her head, trying to rip it off.

"Isabella!" I hit a tree seconds after hands dug into my arm, throwing me off her. I jumped to my feet and tried to go after them but arms wrapped around me again.

"Edward, let me go!" I jerked against him but Ak had been right. I wasn't a full vampire.

Mary stood and backed away from her sister, Ak rising to her feet as well. She appeared as though she was slightly dazed. She was dazed. It was clear. This was my chance. _Dol!_ I broke through that mental wall with ease. I looked around the inside of her mind. It was different than my own. Everything was so much less organized. Thoughts and memories ran through it randomly. Dol was in the center with her arms and legs chained to the floor. She was lying on the ground crying golden tears.

" _Dol."_ I was in front of her now, I knelt in front of her and grabbed her head, she looked up at me weakly.

" _Bella. Kill her. I've seen her plans. Bella, you have to kill her. Please."_ The first time she'd spoken verbally since the lake and this was what she was saying. No.

" _If I kill her-"_

" _I've done so many things for the wrong reasons, believing it was the right thing. She was leading me on the path of destroying humanity. Bella. Please. Let me die. We can't let her win."_ She jerked against the chains and cried weakly.

" _Dol, I can't. You're all I have left. Everyone else is gone or-"_

" _We can't afford to make the selfish choice here. After everything. I love you, Bella but-"_

I was jerked out of her mind and thrown back into reality.

"Stay out of our head."

I didn't want to do this. I knew what needed to happen. I didn't want it to. I couldn't. I couldn't let her die. Even as I told myself this something else dawned on me. Could she die without me dying? I knew Dol was bound to me, I knew she couldn't die unless I did but could Ak die without me dying? They were the same person. If so I knew Mary wouldn't waste a breath considering it. She'd snap my neck and be done with it if it was the only way to kill her sister. _Edward, the vampire. We need to stand with her._

I moved to join Mary's side as another howl ripped through the air from the distance. It was getting further away though. Edward joined my side warily.

"Isabella, you are willing to stand against me? Even in knowing your sister's fate?"

"If it is what I must do then it is what I will do." I put on a mask of confidence. Inside I was dying though. Inside I knew that Dol had told me I needed to kill her.

"Two sisters gathered to kill their sister. About four incarnations ago I loved reading tragedies." Ak crouched low to the ground, the sound of bones breaking filled the air and she was replaced by a wolf, she growled and lunged for Mary, I tackled her mid-air, and we rolled across the ground. I pushed against her chest as she snapped at my throat. Someone else hit her and knocked her off me, I got to my feet slowly and watched as Ak and Mary rolled across the ground. Mary ended up pinned beneath the wolf who lifted its head, preparing to strike.

What happened next was beyond me. Something I couldn't believe. Out of the tree line, out of nowhere came a small boy. He hit Ak's back, wrapping his arms around her neck and pulling. It was clear it didn't affect her, she easily jerked her body and sent the small boy flying through the air, I was moving before I realized it happened, I caught him midair, wrapping my arms around him.

"Brady, what the hell are you doing here!"

He let out a small sound and fought against me, Ak turned her focus straight to the small boy in my arms and froze in place. Mary took advantage of her shock and kicked her off of her. Ak managed to catch herself on the ground, sliding across it. Brady managed to get out of my hold and joined Mary's side, crouching to the ground and glaring at Ak. Ak stared at the young boy in shock, Mary knelt down and wrapped her arm around the small boy's shoulder, watching Ak with a grim smile.

"Sister, I am surprised you didn't see him before. He is after all her son."

She was replaced by her human form. "Bur." She breathed the word. Another name.

"Your first son. Your first ever son. The one you murdered. Now he's human. Because of you he is human."

Ak growled lowly and shook her head. "No. My son is dead. He has been dead for millions of years."

Then she was a wolf flying through the air, going straight for Brady. Edward snarled from somewhere and took her down. It took hardly any effort from the wolf before her teeth sank into his neck and his head was torn from his body. Mary wasted no time before she was on her back. "Isabella, get Brady out of here!" I grabbed him as he struggled to help Mary, his Imprintee. The two girls began fighting again, Mary dodging as Ak bit and clawed at her. I knew from what was happening Mary wasn't going to win. Ak had thousands of animal essences running through her. It was clear that all of those animals were making her stronger than she should've been. I'd seen Dol have bones broken at the hits of vampires before. It was clear that the strikes didn't hurt her. She didn't care. Mary wouldn't win this. She couldn't win this. Not on her own. Another howl ripped through the air from the distance. Rosalie. I could assume based off the fact that Brady was in his human form that he was a human. I could tell from his scent. If I was right that meant the entire pack was probably human again. I knelt down and set Brady down. "Brady, go. Now. Go find Rosalie. You need to wake her up before she kills anyone." He whimpered and looked between myself and the two fighting girls. He was the only one that could wake her up. I knew no matter what Rosalie wouldn't let her wolf kill another child.

"You'll keep her safe? Mary will be safe?"

"Yes, Brady. Now go." I growled the words. He gave the two girls one last glance then took off towards the sound of Rosalie's howl. I was about to help Mary…kill her…I didn't want to. I moved my focus to my Mary who was barely dodging the strikes of Ak who had shifted into a bear now. That many essences. So many animals…there had to be something that I could use to help her.

" _-she has bound her soul to my –as they refer to it as- essence."_ I wished I'd thought of it sooner. I grabbed onto that connection.

 _Back off!_ Ak instantly did as told, her head jerking towards me. _Hold still and shift into your human form._

In seconds she was human again, glaring at me. "This isn't your battle, Isabella!"

Mary looked shocked at first, staring at the girl in front of her. Realization dawned on her and she grinned. "I knew I turned you into a Half Breed for a reason." She tilted her head.

"Are you going to kill me while I'm completely defenseless? Is that the kind of person you are, Isabella?" She searched my expression, I buried all of the pain and fear that wanted to show.

"I have to agree with my sister. It hardly seems fair to end this battle without her being able to defend herself." Mary circled around her, slowly Ak's expression became a hostile glare.

"This battle is over." I growled. "Let Dol out. Now."

Ak grinned. "As you command."

She dropped to her knees and screamed, I wasted no time in joining her side, she shook violently and laughed weakly.

"Bella." She whispered. This was Dol. I could tell by the way she spoke. She met my eyes, the ever changing eyes I knew so well.

"She's going to die. Bella, she needs to expel those animal souls before it kills her." Mary was on her other side now.

"No. Bella, no. Let me die. Please. I can't do this. I can't risk her winning this. Please." She grabbed onto me and hugged me tightly, sobbing.

"Dol-"

"She will kill off all of humanity if she wins. We can't risk this. Bella, please."

"You can't die. Send the essences back, Dol." She whimpered and closed her eyes.

"Bella, don't do this. I-" She jerked away from me and screamed, essences of thousands of animals flying out of every inch of her skin. When it was over she fell flat on her back. Her eyes opened weakly, deep brown again. "I have to say, you're a clever girl, Isabella. This isn't over yet and your part is done. You releveled the playing field. All it cost was your creator and your sister's life. Be done with it, Mer. It's time to end this battle." I couldn't bring myself to think about Edward's body. I wouldn't dwell on it. I wouldn't think about it. I could reattach his head again later.

Mary put her hand on the center of Ak's chest and looked at me with a sad smile. "Isabella, I have to kill her." The initial childish behavior had dissipated. "It is her or me. We both have known this for millions of years. Before language was established we always knew that we would end up killing each other again. I am truly sorry you got involved in this. If you choose to defend her you will have to kill me which I will not allow to happen. It is my job to keep her from destroying humanity. If I don't kill her she will be reborn again and cycle won't end."

I looked at Ak, at Dol, she was glaring at me tiredly. "You will not shift and answer my question. Why do you want humanity dead?"

"Because humanity is disgusting. Even millions of years ago I made it my job to kill off humans who would do things that are disgusting. I was once something basic. My powers were limited. I was born human. Then I died and I became something more. There are no words to describe what was done to myself and sister. Mer became the first of the blood drinkers. I became the first of shapeshifters. I had my son. The only child any of my incarnations has ever had until this one. As time passed, as I developed, I learned how to do more things. Better ways to kill disgusting humans. Then I realized that it wasn't just some of the humans. It was all of the humans. I didn't directly act during this time. I chose to influence some of her vampires. I convinced them to nearly wipe out humanity."

" _We'd nearly overpopulated the human race. Then the entire vampire population dropped."_ Carlisle's voice rang through my head.

"You took out the vampires all those years ago." I looked at Mary who nodded once.

"I keep the balance between our species." She looked back at her sister. "She hasn't made an appearance like this in a long time."

"I hadn't learned how to create new shapeshifters yet. If I had known, I would have finished the human scum off." She laughed. "I was _so close_. So very close. If you hadn't shown up I would've had it. I would've had everything to finish my job."

"Let me talk to Dol." Her eyes changed back to the ever changing colors. "Dol-"

"I love you, Bella. I know you aren't going to let this happen." She looked at Mary. "Do it."

"No!" I was too late.

I barely saw the motion as my sister's neck was snapped. No. There was something worse. A deep distinct tear as my soul was torn. I wasn't completely sure what was happening around me, all I knew was pure raw agony as my soul split.

Turning into a vampire, that was like a pinprick compared to this. I would've been turned four hundred times over before this. This was so much worse. It was a crack in my soul. A pure split. Snapped in half.

We had been two halves of a whole, two pieces of one. Now she was gone, my other half, the other piece of who I was, gone.

All that was there was pure pain. Pain and loss. My sister. She was gone.

I opened my eyes but I didn't see. Gone. My sister was gone.

"Isabella."

Gone. She was gone.

"Isabella."

That was the voice. The voice of the one that killed her. That voice.

"Come on. You need to come back to us."

Alone.

"I know it's bad. By the ancients, I know. You have to come back though. Isabella."

This girl had killed her.

"Get out. She doesn't need you here."

"She's catatonic, Abomination. Someone needs to wake her up. If they don't, she will spend as long as her half breed body will hold out trying to come to grips with it. If she ever does."

The sound of the growling barely clicked in my brain or the sound of two forces colliding. Bones snapping. They meant nothing to my brain.

Alone.

Time passed.

I didn't move.

"Kill her. Put her out of her misery." That voice. The killer. The one who had taken her.

"You said she can recover."

"I did. It took me a million years. We could bury her again. Maybe she'll become aware. Rosalie, I know you love her. This can't just be fixed. Her soul was snapped in half. It cracked her. It destroys who you are."

Silence.

She was gone.

Dol was gone.

My soul.

More time.

"Did they find him?" Rosalie.

"Took him down over in England. Should we kill him?" Embry.

"His sister killed Ellen. Kill him." Rosalie's voice was cold. Unwavering.

So alone.

So empty.

Time meant nothing.

"This isn't right, Mary. You can't wipe out that many people!" Seth.

"You know what isn't right? Keeping her here. Kill her. Get it over with. Free her."

"She'll get through this. She always has."

Dead silence.

Nothing

I was nothing.

"Aunt Bell?"

"She won't wake up, Brady Boy." Her. The one. The killer.

"But I want to talk to her."

"I'm sorry, Brady boy. Let's go see Eddy. He has a present for you."

It might've been two weeks or it might've been two years. Time didn't really register with me anymore. Nothing mattered. My soul was split.

After all, that time, I finally found myself rising to her feet. It wasn't exactly a conscious action. My mind was far away. _Gone. Dead. Lost. Alone._

Without really seeing I walked out of the cave, pushing through the curtain without really seeing. Some people tried to talk to me, I didn't hear them, I didn't see them. All I saw was the image of that girl breaking my sister's neck.

_Dol. Talk to me. Come on. You're there._

That voice, the voice I'd longed to hear all this time.

_I'm here._

Dol.

It was Dol.

_Where are you?_

_Walk left._ Dol's voice told me. I followed her instructions as she guided me. As she led me. I would see her.

_Dol._

_I love you, Bells. Step forward._

I didn't see where I was being led. I didn't register the cold of the world around me. All I knew was I would see her. My sister. I stepped forward.

One step.

Two steps.

The faint sound of ice cracking filled my ears, it didn't register.

_Dol._

_Stop._

I stopped. _Where are you?_

Ice cracking.

_You'll see me soon. Wait._

I waited.

_crack_

_I love you, Dol._

The ice broke. For the first time since it happened I became overly aware of my surroundings, so cold. Icy cold water. I gasped for a breath of oxygen and was met with the terrible feeling of water filling my mouth and lungs.

No.

_Dol!_

No response.

So cold.

I choked up water. I swallowed and inhaled it.

I was drowning.

_Dol!_

Water in my lungs, burning, suffocating.

I was dying.

I thought I heard the sound of a shout from the distance. Maybe I did. I wasn't sure. I was overly aware of the pain as I tried to breathe in the water.

I was going to die.

"Bella!"

A voice so far away.

Burning.

Agony.

Nothing compared to the feeling of my soul being torn in two though.

I wouldn't live through this.

Burning.

Trying to breathe.

No oxygen.

Only water.

Water filling my lungs.

The world sank around me.

_I'll see you soon, Dol._


	5. Venom ~ Alternate Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's an alternate ending to Venom. I wasn't sure if I'd do it but I did and here it is.

Leah was born in a slaughterhouse. At that time, she'd had no one. No real family, nothing. She was a number in a line. All she'd been was one of many shapeshifters waiting for whatever terrible fate came to those shapeshifters that were taken.

When Emmett had arrived and bought her she hadn't expected anything good from the large vampire. Not in the least. She'd followed him out without question and kept her head down. It wasn't like she could truly communicate anyway.

It had been implied more than once by the vampires that she'd be put with a vampire who didn't need her voice. That she'd be used for the worst of things.

Emmett hadn't been like that. He'd been a great man, someone she would gladly refer to as her father. Up until the day Kachiri demanded he give her to her.

Leah would never blame any of what happened to her on Emmett because none of it was his fault. Not really. Kachiri took what she wanted and if she didn't get her way, people got hurt.

Then there was her Imprintee. The boy she met again and again. Not nearly as often as she wished. It was his presence that held her together over the years. People like Renesmee weren't ever as lucky. Anything that wasn't a vampire almost always broke in its own way, shape, or form. Stockholm, depression, insanity, there were endless things that happened to the different beings held by the vampires.

Leah hadn't succumbed to any of those things. Leah had always had someone to hold onto, someone to wait for. Even when she knew nothing could ever work between them. It was all she could do to wait to see her Imprintee. It broke her heart that they were so far and few between.

Then she died and saw him one final time. Only briefly but it had been long enough to know. For her it was years in the making but for him it was the end. She knew what it meant when she saw him appear after her death, she hadn't quite moved on yet. In that brief moment that she saw the world around her, her attention wasn't on the people panicking because of her death. Her attention was on Collin as he materialized out of nothing. As he knelt down by her corpse and spoke softly. The words rang through her as she felt something flood her. Something old and powerful. Something that made her feel lighter than air and like nothing at all.

She was being pulled away, in the last moment she rested her hand on his shoulder, tears filling her eyes as she was pulled into darkness.

That was then.

A long time ago. A lifetime ago.

Now she'd been reborn. If she tried hard enough she could remember the shadowy faces of her parents from her new life. The people that had been killed by a bear. They were foggy memories, people she tried not to think about. The wolf pack may have raised her. They weren't her family either. They'd been selfish in raising her new incarnation as an animal rather than returning her to society.

Of course there wasn't a single time she'd hate them for it because she'd found Collin.

That brief time with Collin had been everything she'd wanted since her childhood, even if she hadn't been able to tell him who she was, she'd been able to spend time with him and it was everything. Even if he hadn't known who she was, it had been him, the boy she'd fallen for all those years ago. Everything that could never be. For that brief time she'd gotten to be around him, even if she couldn't be with him. She could be near him.

Knowing your future made everything worse. All of it worse. A selfish part of her wished Collin had never met her. If he'd never met her she could've lived a semi normal life. If he'd never met her she never would've fallen in love. Her heart never would've been broken by him.

When Collin had been pulled into his memories Leah had been able to tell by looking at him. That had been a long time ago too. Not nearly as long as her first life but long enough.

She'd gone through the motions and called Brady who'd informed her of his family's new status as humans. While she'd waited for Brady she'd alternated between sitting with Mary and Vasilii and sitting by Collin's side.

Mary had slept the entire time they were there. Leah knew basically nothing about how to help her so she was forced to call Nahuel. Nahuel had told her that without the proper equipment there was nothing that could be done until she woke up. She'd warned him that he was going to die then hung up, not bothering to explain the details.

Mary hadn't woken up. Not for a while. It had taken Brady three days to make his way to them and when he'd shown up the way he'd looked at Mary had broken her heart. An Imprint almost as impossible as hers.

Leah had refused to leave Collin in the middle of the woods. She'd demanded Brady let them take him to one of the abandoned cities. Leave him there until he woke up.

The argument had been short, she was pretty sure he didn't have the energy for it. Brady had struggled to carry the statue of his cousin to the SUV and had set him in the very back. When Leah had joined in him the passenger seat she'd peeked in the back to see Mary sleeping in the middle seat with Vasilii under her, her head resting against his leg. Vasilii didn't speak a word until a month and a half later when Mary woke.

They'd left Collin in one of the close abandoned towns, setting him in one of the houses there because it was all they could do. When he woke it would be too dangerous to have him in the house. Not with all of the humans.

Leah had joined Brady in returning to their home in California. Leah had claimed the den as her bedroom and Vasilii had claimed the guest bedroom for himself and Mary. Leah didn't talk to anyone, not really. There wasn't much for her to say. She was waiting for Collin. Waiting for him to wake up.

It wasn't until two weeks after Mary had woken that anyone had pushed her into conversation. It had been Daula. Leah was grateful it was Daula. Daula didn't push conversation about what she planned on doing. Daula just told her stories. Stories of her daughter, of when her and Collin were children. Daula talked about how excited she'd been when she'd learned her mom was pregnant. For the first time since her and Collin's conversation she'd managed to smile.

Time went by. A lot of time. After the first year passed Brady had arrived with legal documents and the information that he was enrolling her, Ayla, Mary, and Vasilii in school so that they wouldn't spend all of their time sitting around the house. She'd accepted her new identity without a fight. Leah Clearwater. A false family brewed in memory of some of those they'd lost. According to her documents she was Leah Clearwater, sister of Ayla Clearwater and daughter of Emma Clearwater. They hadn't bothered listing a father because it didn't really matter.

Mary and Vasilii's identity had been of Mary's making. Mary and Vas-they'd decided Vasilii was too strange of a name- Uley were daughter of Dol and Paul Uley. It had been an obvious play on Brady's lineage and no one had commented on it. It was easier that way. According to the school system they were distant cousins that had come to live with Brady and Lila. The school system didn't pry. They were people, which was more than a lot of the world had.

School was boring, Leah learned this pretty quickly. When she'd been in Missouri, Emmett had educated her, so she would let Holly take over control during school and suffer through the day for her. Holly had developed better social capabilities though she was still pretty wild. One time she'd even bitten a class mate who had tried to push her down in the hall.

It had been a hilarious day. Especially when Brady had shown up giving her an all too knowing look which she'd smiled innocently at.

Things were getting easier.

Every night she would lie in her bed and reach out to feel the Imprint. It was her reassurance that he was still alive. That one day she'd see him again.

At some point in the second year they'd received a phone call from Brady's daughter letting them know that Collin was gone from the house they'd left him in. Not dead, just gone. They had checked on him occasionally but they weren't sure when exactly he'd left. There wasn't anything they could do. Based off the death tolls in the news there were very few shapeshifters and vampires left. Even then, they couldn't risk contacting those that were left. They had to give them a chance to escape the werewolves, even if they knew Vasilii's plan would work out.

Leah had waited. She'd waited for a long time after that. Waited for Collin. Time passed. Daula died, Seth and Nahuel stopped calling and they suspected they had been killed.

High school was worse than elementary and middle school. When she'd entered into high school she'd actually begun stepping into new territory education wise. Guys and girls had flirted with her and she'd rejected them, except once. The years of waiting for Collin were taking a toll on her. Part of her, a part of her that wanted desperately to be loved again, it had finally given in.

There wasn't a moment she'd regret it because it had given her an escape for two years. It had taken him two years to piece together how broken she was. While he didn't know the details once he'd realized she was using him to cope he'd confronted her and they'd agreed it was better to break it off before someone was hurt.

It was around Leah's twentieth birthday when Ayla and Mary came out to the family about their relationship. Everyone had known about it before then, everyone except Leah. Leah had been so lost in her longing she'd been blind as to what was happening in her very own house.

That was when she'd finally realized she might never see Collin again.

If Collin didn't come back the reason why he'd do it was easy enough. To give her a chance at a real life.

It wasn't what she wanted. Not really. What she wanted was her Imprint. The boy she'd loved since she was ten. After she understood what was happening she'd shut down. She'd shut herself out of the real world and fallen into a habit of reliving every memory she had of her time with Collin. She clung to that until finally Mary confronted her. Leah remembered the conversation clearly.

" _Leah, open this damned door before I break it down!" Leah hadn't opened it; she'd just curled up into a tighter ball under her blankets and shut out the sound of Mary beating on the door._

_To be honest, she hadn't expected Mary to actually kick the door open. The sound of wood splintering filled her ears and she had about ten seconds to jerk into a sitting position and turn towards the doorway before Mary was on top of her._

_From an outside perspective the position might've seemed intimate, or maybe like the beginning of a rape. The way Mary straddled her waist and used her feet to hold the now struggling Leah's legs to the bed while she gripped both of Leah's hands in one hand and pinned them above her head to glare into the Leah's eyes as she held her down, her free hand clenched in a fist at her side._

_Anyone that knew Mary knew better than to assume that. Mary had grown into a smaller woman. Shorter than the average woman. She'd made up for the risk of being a small woman by building up as much strength as she could while she was young. She didn't plan on being weak just because she was human. She knew how to fight and the fact that Mary had Leah immobilized scared her for more than one reason._

" _Okay, Leah. I love you to death. Really, I do. You're part of my god forsaken fucked up family. But this shit has to stop. I love Collin. You know that. He's my brother. I ruined his childhood to have him by my side for eternity. What happened then happened and I'm sorry. I really am. But this_ has _to stop. What you want from him he_ can't _give to you. You know it and I know it. He won't come back. You need to accept this and move on. Dwelling won't help. This," what Mary did then stunned her._

 _It was an action she never would've expected from Mary. Not in a million years. Mary kissed her, she closed the distance and she kissed her and_ dammit _. Leah would be lying if she said she didn't surrender to the feeling of closeness, no matter how fucked it was. She surrendered to the kiss and struggled against the other girl's hold for a whole other reason. The fight was futile and both girls knew it. When Mary parted she was relaxed and Leah knew that the kiss had no meaning to the other girl. It had been a point, a solid point._

" _That was real." Leah blinked as she tried to recall what Mary had been talking about. When she did she turned her head away to stare at the white wall. "I don't know you, Leah. Not as much as I wish I did. But I know what you're doing to yourself. Torturing yourself with memories of your lost love will_ not _make him come back. It will put you through Hell. You'll suffer and break apart until there's nothing left. But this. This here. Me being here. This is real. You have to stop clinging onto something that can never be because it will destroy you. If you don't want to fall in love, fine, don't fall in love. No one is asking you to do that."_

" _What I'm telling you is that you can't lock yourself away from the world. Stop hiding in here and reliving memories of what can never be and come out there. Spend time with the family, watch one of these terrible movies with us. Hell, if you want come join me and Angel and we'll give you the night of your life. Just stop doing this."_

_Mary freed her after that and just before she could leave the room Leah sat up and called after her, "Mary."_

" _What?"_

" _Has he contacted you?"_

_Mary went rigid in the doorframe, lethal silence for several long moments before she spoke softly. "No." Leah could hear the cracking in her voice then the other girl slipped out the doorway and she was alone._

Leah had thought over that conversation for a long while. Everything Mary had said and done had wedged into her. Lodged into her consciousness. Yet, something felt wrong about her reaction. That single 'no' felt like a lie.

Leah wasn't a nosy human being, not normally. All of her time in that city had made her careful about staying out of other people's business, and yet, she found herself drawn in by that single 'no'. Maybe it had been her grabbing at straws, maybe something more, but she had to find out. She needed to know.

So she accepted Mary's offer, and yes, she knew it was a stupid idea but she needed an excuse to go to Mary's apartment. An excuse to be there. An excuse to nose around in Mary's more private belongings. Holidays were always spent at Brady's and without raising suspicion as to why she was doing it she needed a reason to go to Mary's.

So she waited a year, she made a point of spending more time with the family, then she confronted Ayla and Mary with a singular request which the girls had accepted after making sure it was what Leah wanted.

No it wasn't, she was more interested in what she could find while at their apartment. She smiled and nodded and that was that. Three days later Mary picked her up and they held true to their promise, which, admittedly, Leah had enjoyed.

It was three AM when Leah got up off the futon in Mary's living room and crept into the kitchen where she'd seen Mary plug her phone in earlier in the night. She didn't honestly expect there to be anything of use in it but figured it was worth checking. Silently, she pulled the phone off the charger and put in the code, that she'd seen Mary put in before. To her confusion it told her incorrect password. Frowning, she tried again and yet again was met with an incorrect password.

"Leah." Leah jerked around, nearly dropping the phone, when Mary's voice came from the dining area. "I told you before that you need to stop clinging to something that can never be."

"You lied to me." Leah's voice cracked. So she'd been right. Mary had known something else.

"I did it for your own good, Leah. I was trying to help you."

"Help me?!" Leah snapped, "Help me?! Mary, you know _exactly_ what uncertainty does to someone! You and me sat in his mother's house for a month while you waited and feared that he'd die! You knew what I was going through, even if you never addressed it. Fuck you if you think that lying to me was the right thing, you can go rot in Hell for all I care."

Mary flinched but other than that remained calm, looking away as a groggy looking Ayla crept into sight in the corner of her vision, "Either way you've been damned since the day Collin was born. I thought lying would give you a chance at normalcy."

"And how's that working out, Mary?" Leah responded angrily.

"Pretty shitty." Mary admitted as she leaned into Ayla's side. "Put my phone down, go to apartment two forty one and go in, it's never locked."

Leah stared at Mary as Ayla buried her face in the other girl's shoulder. "You promised him." Leah heard Ayla mutter as she made her way past the two girls and out the apartment. These apartments were cheap, places that would've screamed danger in her first life. Now, they were just convenient places to live. Crimes weren't usually domestic anymore, usually committed on the streets. She'd heard Brady blame it on the years of supernatural influence but she just figured it was humanity devolving. There was only so high a species could climb before it hit its eventual downfall.

 _Two fifty three, two fifty two, two fifty one, two fifty…_ She counted each apartment door until she found the one she had been looking for.

 _Two forty one._ She reached out and touched the handle, grabbing it and turning it before stepping through the frame.

The apartment was scarcely furnished with a single couch and small TV mounted on the wall. On the couch, watching her as she entered, was an older man in his mid to late fifties, a man that Leah had to do a double take on when she saw.

That wasn't possible.

She stared in complete shock at the sight before her, because it couldn't be. It wasn't possible. There was no logical explanation for what she saw before her.

And yet, she knew who it was. She knew by the sight of those chocolate brown eyes, the sight of his mother's eyes.

"Collin." She choked out and stumbled forward as the man pushed himself into a sitting position.

"You shouldn't be here, Leah." Collin told her sadly as she stopped behind the couch.

"You're alive." She whispered, completely ignoring his words. "All of this time and you're _alive._ "

"And old." Collin responded mournfully.

"Damnit, Collin." She muttered angrily as she crawled across the edge of the couch and, to the shock of Collin, right into his lap. "You can be such a moron sometimes." She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into him, burying her face in his shoulder and crying. "I _told_ you to come back to me. You told me you would. I didn't care about anything else. The details, the shit that came afterwards, it didn't matter. I just wanted to _see_ you. To know you were alive." His arms wrapped around her and held her as she pressed closer into him, feeling a shudder go through him as she continued, "I hate you so much, Collin. I hate you so damned much."

"No you don't." He muttered into her shoulder as she squirmed, trying to pull away. Collin didn't give her that privilege, holding her in place. "You're stupid enough to love me no matter what. Stupid enough to do anything to get back to me. Let me tell you, I'm going to kick Mary's ass for letting you cross that line."

Leah went rigid under him, feeling her face reddening at the implication.

"Yes, I know." Collin sighed into her shoulder, letting her go as she pulled away this time, searching his expression but not able to read it, Mary told me that there was a chance she'd tell you the truth tonight. Told me exactly what was happening."

"I did what I had to do to get back to you. I knew she was lying." Leah told him and he looked away.

"You'd think she'd be better at it after living for as long as she did." He remarked quietly and they sat like that for several moments before she broke the silence.

"Why are you old, Collin?"

There it was, a difficult question that she needed to know the answer to. A terrible painful question. The final barrier between them. The reason she knew he'd stayed away.

Collin leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. "Mary thinks it's part of my family's curse. The fact that we can never have what we want. I think it's just my age catching up with me." He paused and shifted slightly under her weight, "I was in memories for a really long time. When I got to my final point…I thought that it was the end. I believed I was going to die. Everything inside me screamed that I was dying. I held onto you, all I could think of was my promise to you. The promise that I'd come back."

"You didn't."

"No. I didn't." Collin shut his eyes, "When I woke up, I felt like I was dying. My entire body felt as though I'd been run through a car compactor. When I moved my bones felt like glass, it was a miracle that I managed to dial a number on the phone someone had put on my bedside table. I called Brady. It was the only number I knew by heart, I called my cousin and Lila answered. I managed to tell her help before I passed out from the agonizing pain I was suffering through."

"Brady's daughter came to me that day and she helped me to the best of her abilities. They told you and the others that I'd disappeared. I was under constant care by her for six months. During that time I learned why everything felt wrong. I wasn't in the body I'd been in for years. Not anymore. I was physically as old as I should've been. I couldn't come to you, not like this. I called Brady and talked to him. He told me that you were doing okay, that you weren't in pristine condition but you were doing okay."

"We decided to keep up the ruse that I was gone, see if you could move on. I kept a lot of tabs on you and talked frequently with Mary. I didn't go to California. I didn't want to risk you seeing me. Up until a year ago I'd been living in Colorado. I moved here because of Mary. You were having a breakdown and she was concerned. We agreed if you ended up in bad enough shape I'd show my face."

"She screwed up though." Leah said, taking his words in.

"Or you're just too observant for your own good."

"I'm not your aunt. I'm hardly observant or curious."

"And yet you screwed my sister as an out to find me." Collin grinned at her when she smacked him in the side of the head.

"I wouldn't have had to do that if you weren't a selfish asshole."

"You didn't have to do it anyway. A million other ways you could've tried to trick her. You chose to screw her and her fiancée."

Leah narrowed her eyes before smiling innocently before speaking, "Fine. You caught me. I wanted to fuck your sister. After she kissed me I couldn't stop thinking about her-"

Collin kissed her, finally kissed her, it was short and sweet and everything she wanted. The physical age gap didn't matter, none of that mattered because he was hers. It was what she wanted and who she wanted. When they pulled apart she had to blink tears from her eyes.

"You don't know when to stop talking do you, Leah?" He asked a bit breathlessly and she grinned at him.

"I kept my mouth shut for far too long. I'm not subordinate anymore." Then she was kissing him again and for that short brief moment she allowed herself to forget how terrible their situation truly was. This couldn't really work. Not in the long run. She was physically just turning twenty one. He was too old. If she let herself get too far into this she would never survive his death. It'd kill her.

Oh, who was she kidding? It was going to kill her anyway. There was no coming back from two lifetimes of loving the boy who wiped the unnatural from the planet. There was no chance she'd ever get past him. Not in a million years.

The pulled apart at the sound of knocking on the door. She sighed and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder as she listened to someone open then shut the door behind them. It wasn't hard to guess who it was.

"Hey, Mary." Collin greeted, shifting on the couch, wrapping his arms around her and holding her in place as he moved.

"There's no coming back from this for her." Mary stated bluntly as she couch shifted and Mary no doubt settled into it.

Leah didn't bother lifting her head from Collin's shoulder to check as she muttered, "I'm right here, you know."

"I never would've known considering you're basically morphing yourself into him." Mary responded blandly. "Collin."

He sighed, his hold tightening on her. "Leah, you can still walk away."

"No." She told him without a thought, "I won't. Never again." She pulled back and met his gaze, "If you try to make me go I will kick your ass." She warned and he sighed, shaking his head, a small smile appearing on his face. "What was it you said, Mary? I've been damned since the day he was born?"

"I did." Mary answered quietly, Leah looked over to see her watching them with a sad smile on her face. "I think…in the long run this will be better for everyone. Even when it comes to its end."

No one addressed exactly what that meant though they all knew the damage that Collin's death would eventually do to her.

"I'm going to sleep." Mary spoke up after a minute of uncomfortable silence. "Leah, you should really let Holly in on this revelation. This affects her just as much as it affects you." Mary pushed off the couch, stretching before making her way to the door.

"I will." Leah told the other girl and watched her leave.

"Leah?" Collin asked after the door shut.

"Yeah?" She asked, curling closer to him and shutting her eyes.

"I love you."

Tears filled her eyes, a massive grin appearing on her face, "I love you too, Collin. From now until forever."

Yes, things were fractured between them. There was still deep rooted anger towards him for what he did, for him leaving her. But it was better than the alternative. Having him by her side was so much better than the idea of never seeing him again. It wasn't perfect, it couldn't be perfect, but it was something, which was more than she could've ever wished for.


End file.
